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Two Members of Ring Which Fixed Suspended Drivers Licenses Sentenced On Racketeering Charges

PRESS ADVISORY

Two Members of Ring Which Fixed Suspended Drivers Licenses Sentenced On Racketeering Charges

December 18, 2006

Angela Grier and Sonji McKibben were both sentenced today by Judge Jackson Bedford in Fulton Superior Court on one count of Racketeering. McKibben was sentenced to 10 years, with the first four months to be spent at the Fulton County Diversion Center, the remainder on probation, and to pay a $5000.00 fine. Grier received a 10 year sentence, with the first 2 years to be spent incarcerated, the remainder on probation, and to pay a $15,000 fine. The first five years of both defendants' probation will be under maximum supervision.

The case originated when Lieutenant David Akins of the Jackson, Georgia Police Department noticed that individuals who he knew to have suspended driver's licenses were driving on apparently valid driver's licenses. Sergeant James Morgan of the Georgia Department of Public Safety investigated the case, and discovered that all of the licenses had been reinstated by Angela Grier, a reinstatement specialist with the Department of Public Safety.

Grier was ultimately charged with Racketeering in that she accepted bribes and falsified the computerized Department of Public Safety driving records of at least fifteen individuals, allowing them to obtain licenses without completing any of the required legal requirements. Additional investigation revealed that Sonji McKibben and Tony McKibben, relatives of Grier, also acted as "go betweens", forwarding money to Grier from individuals to have their licenses illegally reinstated.

It is anticipated that Tony McKibben, another alleged member of the ring, will be tried on the charges in 2007..